Here are a couple of thoughts:
1: Imagine Sanchin-testing a "pillar of putty".
2: Try Sanchin-stepping with arms in closed-gate postition next time you are navigating through a dark room. It's brilliant.
You won't ever stub your toe or whack your nose!
A Few Good Tidbit Quotes For Discussion
Moderator: Available
A Few Good Tidbit Quotes For Discussion
i prefer my training without philosophy.
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Ted Dinwiddie
- Posts: 537
- Joined: Thu Sep 16, 1999 6:01 am
- Location: Charlottesville,VA,USA
A Few Good Tidbit Quotes For Discussion
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>i prefer my training without philosophy.
kickgirl
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
I prefer understanding the principles of my training.
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ted
"I learn by going where I have to go." - Theodore Roethke
kickgirl
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
I prefer understanding the principles of my training.
------------------
ted
"I learn by going where I have to go." - Theodore Roethke
A Few Good Tidbit Quotes For Discussion
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by kickgirl:
i prefer my training without philosophy.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Well, by 'philosophy' you undoubtedly mean "eastern-spiritual-mumbo-jumbo", if I read into your comment correctly. And since this is not that kind of forum, there's no reason to me to get into any of that. But T'aiji IS a martial art, and its principals have their own unique applicability to other aspects of daily life, just as any other martial art does. It is also an unusual art, and therefore can generate conversations that seem unsusal or "philosophical" to folks that aren't familiar with it.
Believe me, noone is trying to propagate a beleif system, we're just sharing observations.
i prefer my training without philosophy.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Well, by 'philosophy' you undoubtedly mean "eastern-spiritual-mumbo-jumbo", if I read into your comment correctly. And since this is not that kind of forum, there's no reason to me to get into any of that. But T'aiji IS a martial art, and its principals have their own unique applicability to other aspects of daily life, just as any other martial art does. It is also an unusual art, and therefore can generate conversations that seem unsusal or "philosophical" to folks that aren't familiar with it.
Believe me, noone is trying to propagate a beleif system, we're just sharing observations.
-
Tony-San
A Few Good Tidbit Quotes For Discussion
Having a good philisophical foundation is a positive thing.
What i've got a problem with is dogma, and believe it or not, Martial Arts are full of it.
What i've got a problem with is dogma, and believe it or not, Martial Arts are full of it.
A Few Good Tidbit Quotes For Discussion
“Losing your Ass”
The Quagmire of Haphazard Eclecticism
Do you know the nature of your martial art training? Is your philosophy of personal combat deliberate and conscious? Are you uncertain about your doctrinal beliefs about personal combat? Such incertitude can lead to the self-sabotage of hesitation, doubt, and resistance, as well as the destruction or hampering of defensive survivability.
The greatest difficulty with the contemporary eclecticism of the American martial art community is the lack of understanding of training doctrine (underlying assumptions and beliefs) and how particular training strategies deliver particular performance destinations. Basically, if you don’t have any goals in mind, any method will get you there. [“Going nowhere fast.”] Your training doctrine is meant to be a compass for developing a proper philosophy of personal combat. It is up to you to evaluate the specific vehicles that will effectuate your desired performance levels. Individuals who lack a deliberate and conscious philosophy often succumb to the stress of actual combat as well as the enduring challenges of sustained combative preparation. There is a story that elucidates this peculiar dubiety:
There was an old man, a boy and a donkey. They were going to town and it was decided that the boy should ride. As they went along, they passed some people who exclaimed that it was a shame for the boy to ride and the old man to walk. The man and boy decided that maybe the critics were right so they changed positions. Later, they passed some more people who then exclaimed that it was a real shame for the man to make such a small boy walk. The two decided that maybe they both should walk. Soon, they passed some more people who exclaimed that it was stupidity to walk when they had a donkey to ride. The man and the boy decided maybe the critics were right so they decided that they both should ride. They soon passed other people who exclaimed that it was cruel to put such a load on a poor little animal. The old man and the boy decided that maybe the critics were right, so they decided to carry the donkey. As they crossed a bridge, they lost their grip on the animal and the donkey fell into the river and drowned. The moral of the story is that if you try to please everyone, you will eventually lose your ass.
It is often seen throughout the media-induced slumber of martial activity in the US, that the “technique” or “style” flavor of the month guides the education of thousands of students across the nation. Even underlying assumptions about combative preparation go unquestioned and unanalyzed when introduced into this ‘community’ of martial artists. The hyperbolic individualism of American eclecticism (the belief that “I will choose what is useful to me and discard the rest.”) is adopted by novice artists, which only feeds their inept, counter-productive training; their ignorance fortified with random, haphazard tricks gleaned from video courses, magazine articles, and spectator tournaments. How can a novice, without a sound, deliberate and conscious philosophy of combative preparation ever hope to see through the veneer of falsification and distortion, trend and fashion, to combative truth? How can even an amateur hope to, without the burden of years of hardened trial and error, reveal the principles of personal combat that must be the foundation of their preparation, and not the final revelation after decades of pursuit?
In personal combat, it will be the presence of a proper and deliberate philosophy, not your fighting skill, that will keep you from “losing your ass.” Having a philosophy will assist you in derailing doubtfulness, for in vital combat, hazards emanate less from adversity and more from the conspiracy of lacking deliberate preparation. Having a philosophy will enable you to develop intentional training methods, realistic short and long-term expectations and goals, self-discipline and repose through organization, ethical and moral codes of behavior, and many other beneficial repercussions. If you devote the same, or hopefully more, time and effort to developing a proper combative philosophy as you do to your fighting skill (the mere tactics), you will significantly increase your survivability and the efficiency of your training.
Allow me to say this: everyone has a philosophy. Everyone operates within the parameters of their cultural, social, community, biological, and physical ‘operating system’. Whether you are aware of your philosophy or not does not alter the fact that every creature possesses, and is subject, to an operating system. Your goal is to massage your philosophy to a conscious level. This begins at a doctrinal level. How have you been indoctrinated, and how are you continuing to be indoctrinated? What have you been taught is truth? What are your general beliefs about martial art?
Only with confronting your world view with a discerning eye, a patient mind, and a temperament devoid of frustration, can you determine the inconsistencies and incongruities laden in an uninvestigated philosophy. If you can stand naked in front of your reality, growth occurs exponentially, and you adopt the lifestyle of mastery. If you can do this, if you can take your philosophy, no matter how obscure and unchallenged, and grasp it by the neck and shake it from its slumber, you will gain the authority over your training that every master possesses.
Everywhere we are told that we are incompetent, that we must defer to some external source of wisdom, that we are somehow deficient in our perception of truth and wisdom. The world is rampant with pseudo-guru ‘experts’ willing to exchange their ‘true way’ into the coin of the region. However, if we delve deeply and confront our preconceived ideas and notions, our fears and doubts, and our desires and needs, we will release the natural authority over our own lives.
This is not to say that teachers serve no purpose. Quite the contrary is true. Only when we expose our concealed philosophy can true learning begin. More importantly, only then can we identify a teacher with whom we can entrust, what is most assuredly in combative preparation, our very lives and, as a result, the lives of our friends and family. [When the pupil is ready, the master appears.]
Some of you may even have managed to develop a cohesive and congruent philosophy of personal combat. However, what you must acknowledge and accept is that your philosophy engages a perpetual state of amendment and reevaluation (conscious or unconscious, once again), constantly readjusting and adapting to the needs of the new day. The only way to prevent “losing your ass” is to know precisely what changes to make and, most importantly, what changes to resist, for the popular vogue of the media and the trends of the community must be held with suspicion. In martial art, it may well be the case, and is for each of you to evaluate with a critical eye and a confident hand, that what is held to be precious by the community of experts, may very well be a danger to your safety and wellness. As is said by Soren Kierkegaard, “The crowd is untruth.”
If your martial PHILOSOPHY is not conscious and deliberate, you are subject to it. Everyone exists within an operating system, whether they deny or admit it. If they admit it, it can be changed; if denied, enslaved to stagnation.
Fraternal,
Scott Sonnon www.subjectcontrol.com
The Quagmire of Haphazard Eclecticism
Do you know the nature of your martial art training? Is your philosophy of personal combat deliberate and conscious? Are you uncertain about your doctrinal beliefs about personal combat? Such incertitude can lead to the self-sabotage of hesitation, doubt, and resistance, as well as the destruction or hampering of defensive survivability.
The greatest difficulty with the contemporary eclecticism of the American martial art community is the lack of understanding of training doctrine (underlying assumptions and beliefs) and how particular training strategies deliver particular performance destinations. Basically, if you don’t have any goals in mind, any method will get you there. [“Going nowhere fast.”] Your training doctrine is meant to be a compass for developing a proper philosophy of personal combat. It is up to you to evaluate the specific vehicles that will effectuate your desired performance levels. Individuals who lack a deliberate and conscious philosophy often succumb to the stress of actual combat as well as the enduring challenges of sustained combative preparation. There is a story that elucidates this peculiar dubiety:
There was an old man, a boy and a donkey. They were going to town and it was decided that the boy should ride. As they went along, they passed some people who exclaimed that it was a shame for the boy to ride and the old man to walk. The man and boy decided that maybe the critics were right so they changed positions. Later, they passed some more people who then exclaimed that it was a real shame for the man to make such a small boy walk. The two decided that maybe they both should walk. Soon, they passed some more people who exclaimed that it was stupidity to walk when they had a donkey to ride. The man and the boy decided maybe the critics were right so they decided that they both should ride. They soon passed other people who exclaimed that it was cruel to put such a load on a poor little animal. The old man and the boy decided that maybe the critics were right, so they decided to carry the donkey. As they crossed a bridge, they lost their grip on the animal and the donkey fell into the river and drowned. The moral of the story is that if you try to please everyone, you will eventually lose your ass.
It is often seen throughout the media-induced slumber of martial activity in the US, that the “technique” or “style” flavor of the month guides the education of thousands of students across the nation. Even underlying assumptions about combative preparation go unquestioned and unanalyzed when introduced into this ‘community’ of martial artists. The hyperbolic individualism of American eclecticism (the belief that “I will choose what is useful to me and discard the rest.”) is adopted by novice artists, which only feeds their inept, counter-productive training; their ignorance fortified with random, haphazard tricks gleaned from video courses, magazine articles, and spectator tournaments. How can a novice, without a sound, deliberate and conscious philosophy of combative preparation ever hope to see through the veneer of falsification and distortion, trend and fashion, to combative truth? How can even an amateur hope to, without the burden of years of hardened trial and error, reveal the principles of personal combat that must be the foundation of their preparation, and not the final revelation after decades of pursuit?
In personal combat, it will be the presence of a proper and deliberate philosophy, not your fighting skill, that will keep you from “losing your ass.” Having a philosophy will assist you in derailing doubtfulness, for in vital combat, hazards emanate less from adversity and more from the conspiracy of lacking deliberate preparation. Having a philosophy will enable you to develop intentional training methods, realistic short and long-term expectations and goals, self-discipline and repose through organization, ethical and moral codes of behavior, and many other beneficial repercussions. If you devote the same, or hopefully more, time and effort to developing a proper combative philosophy as you do to your fighting skill (the mere tactics), you will significantly increase your survivability and the efficiency of your training.
Allow me to say this: everyone has a philosophy. Everyone operates within the parameters of their cultural, social, community, biological, and physical ‘operating system’. Whether you are aware of your philosophy or not does not alter the fact that every creature possesses, and is subject, to an operating system. Your goal is to massage your philosophy to a conscious level. This begins at a doctrinal level. How have you been indoctrinated, and how are you continuing to be indoctrinated? What have you been taught is truth? What are your general beliefs about martial art?
Only with confronting your world view with a discerning eye, a patient mind, and a temperament devoid of frustration, can you determine the inconsistencies and incongruities laden in an uninvestigated philosophy. If you can stand naked in front of your reality, growth occurs exponentially, and you adopt the lifestyle of mastery. If you can do this, if you can take your philosophy, no matter how obscure and unchallenged, and grasp it by the neck and shake it from its slumber, you will gain the authority over your training that every master possesses.
Everywhere we are told that we are incompetent, that we must defer to some external source of wisdom, that we are somehow deficient in our perception of truth and wisdom. The world is rampant with pseudo-guru ‘experts’ willing to exchange their ‘true way’ into the coin of the region. However, if we delve deeply and confront our preconceived ideas and notions, our fears and doubts, and our desires and needs, we will release the natural authority over our own lives.
This is not to say that teachers serve no purpose. Quite the contrary is true. Only when we expose our concealed philosophy can true learning begin. More importantly, only then can we identify a teacher with whom we can entrust, what is most assuredly in combative preparation, our very lives and, as a result, the lives of our friends and family. [When the pupil is ready, the master appears.]
Some of you may even have managed to develop a cohesive and congruent philosophy of personal combat. However, what you must acknowledge and accept is that your philosophy engages a perpetual state of amendment and reevaluation (conscious or unconscious, once again), constantly readjusting and adapting to the needs of the new day. The only way to prevent “losing your ass” is to know precisely what changes to make and, most importantly, what changes to resist, for the popular vogue of the media and the trends of the community must be held with suspicion. In martial art, it may well be the case, and is for each of you to evaluate with a critical eye and a confident hand, that what is held to be precious by the community of experts, may very well be a danger to your safety and wellness. As is said by Soren Kierkegaard, “The crowd is untruth.”
If your martial PHILOSOPHY is not conscious and deliberate, you are subject to it. Everyone exists within an operating system, whether they deny or admit it. If they admit it, it can be changed; if denied, enslaved to stagnation.
Fraternal,
Scott Sonnon www.subjectcontrol.com
